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THE NAIL HIT ON THE HEAD ; 



OR, THE 

E 458 

TWO JONATHANS 

Copy 1 



AGREEING TO SETTLE 



THE SLAYE QUESTION 



WITH OR WITHOUT MORE FIGHTING, 



AS THE SOUTH PLEASES. 



BY 



PACIFICATOR. 



NEW HAVEN : 

PUBLISHED BY THOMAS H. PEASE. 
SOLD BY ROSS & TOUSEY, NEW YORK. 

1862. 



THE NAIL HIT ON THE HEAD ; 



OR, THE 



T¥0 JONATHANS 



AGREEING TO SETTLE 



THE SLAVE QUESTION 



WITH OR WITHOUT MORE FIGHTING, 



AS THE SOUTH PLEASES. 



BY 



/ 

PACIFICATOR. 



-*♦♦- 



\ 



NEW HAVEN : 

PUBLISHED BY THOMAS H. PEASE. 

1862. 



Entered, 

According to Act of Congress, in the year 1862, 

BY THOMAS H. PEASE, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Connecticut. 



o, 



^ EMANCIPATION WITH COMPENSATION. 

A MEETING BETWEEN THE TWO JONATHANS. 



" What is the news, Mr. South ?" 

" Everything is going to destruction as it relates to our country, 
Mr. North. The Union is sundered, and I see no remedy." 

" I think there is a cure for it, South, if the two sections would 
adopt it. But in this day of excitement it is hardly possible to 
obtain a hearing ; and besides, nothing should stand in the way 
of the vigorous prosecution of this war for the maintenance of 
the laws and the Constitution as our fathers bequeathed them 
to us. 

"The motive of your leaders in this desperate rebellion has 
been their own elevation to political power through the instru- 
mentality of slavery. If the best Government ever presented to the 
world seemed an obstacle, then they decreed that that Government 
should be destroyed. If they fail in that undertaking, and their 
cherished institution receives its death-blow, they have none to 
blame but themselves. 

" While it is true that the object of this war is not to emancij^ate 
any person from legal service, there is still a strong desire per- 
vading the North that some plan may be adopted for the removal 
of slavery from our country, that it may never become again, the 
disturber of its peace. 

" Whatever may he tlie character of slavery, it ought to be given 
up. ' If it be wrong,' says Mr. Wadsworth, of Kentucky, ' it ought 
not to be permitted to exist anywhere ; but if it be right, as I 
contend it is, it is an outrage upon me and my constituents to at- 
tempt its overthrow through the present war.' That does not 
follow. A thing may be lawful which is not expedient. If the 
peace, happiness and liberty of 30,000,000 of people be endangered 
by it, have they not as much claim for consideration as the interests 
of 400,000 slaveholders ? 

" If the ' present war ' has been commenced for the perpetuity 



and extension of slavery, and bringing with it, as it has, the deso- 
lation and woe which now spreads over the land, then it Avould ap- 
pear very reasonable that if the ' present war ' shall be instru- 
mental of removing slavery from our country, so that it shall never 
again be an element of danger to its prosperity, then JMr. Wads- 
worth and every other true patriot ought heartily to acquiesce in 
its removal. If any State in the Union should abhor slavery, it is 
Kentucky. What else would have arrayed her citizens against 
each other with such deadly hostility ? What removes from the 
human heart every kind and humane sensibility like it ? 

" But, ' slavery is right,' says Mr. Wadsworth. Can a system 
be right which begins its existence by stirring up wars among an 
xmcnlightened people — purchasing the conquered, if possible, and 
stealing those which cannot be bought? Right — to tear such 
people from their kindred and friends, stow them on board of 
ships, many of them to suffocate and die, and then to transport 
such as survive to our shores ? Right — to expose their persons, 
es];)ecially those of females, with as little regard to delicacy as you 
would expose a horse or a mule ? Right — to separate husbands 
from their wives, and children from their parents, never to meet 
again ? Right — to deprive these creatures of God of every right 
dear to manhood ? Right — to refuse them every protection in their 
domestic relations, and transfer them by sale as you would a beast 
or a bale of cotton ? Is it right to degrade their minds, blunt 
their intellects, and deny them the means of education ? Is it 
right to uphold a system which promotes sensuality among the 
whites and the blacks ? Is it right to deny the sacredness of mar- 
riage, and make it possible, and sometimes necessary, that a 
parent should sell his own children to save himself from bank- 
ruptcy? Can a tree bearing such fruit be a good tree? And 
now, while slavocrats, like bloodhounds, are surrounding our 
National Capital, ready to consume our \dtals, for a man to rise up 
in the councils of our Nation and declare before God and that as- 
sembly that 'slavery is right,' shows how far the power of 
education or interest may influence a mind, otherwise, it may be, 
humane and just. Has the Emperor of Russia, with one stroke of 
his pen, removed the bonds of servitude from 20,000,000 of his 
people, and shall America sit by and hear the cry of the oppressed 
until it reach the ears of the Lord of Sabbaoth, and remain un- 
moved ? Have we no fears that the rust of the gold and the silver — 
the hire of these laborers which has been kept back by fraud — 



will witness against the partakers in this guilt, 'eating their flesh ' 
Is it were fire ? Remember, the greater the pile of the treasure 
thus acauired, the swifter the witness. 

"It ht been hard for the people of the North to beheve that 
the secession efforts were anything else than a scheme of poli- 
ticians to alarm us, that they might obtain such concessions as 
should more effectually establish the slaveholdmg power. That 
this Government, under which we have so happily and so pros 
perously lived for so many years, was m danger^ of being broken 
up had not entered our minds. We now perceive the desperate 
cLacter of our assailants. South Carolina, by her conduct, 
raised the cloud, small at first. The firing on a merchant steamer, 
bearino- the national flag and carrying provisions to a starvmg 
garrison, increased it. The dishonor done our national colors, 
the seizin- of forts, arsenals and mints, and the attempt to seize 
ot n ioSal capit'al, have given density to it. The hgh^nrngs 
flash, and there is a rumbling of thunder. Our northern h^Us and 
moimtains are shaking, and that cloud will pour out its fury upon 
the heads of those who have so wantonly raised it 

" When Jefferson Davis offered to the men of the North a wel- 
come to 'hospitable graves,' and the points of southern steel and 
the smell of southern powder, he should have remembered that 
there are graves of hospitality for his own people, and an oppor- 
tunity foi them to try the mettle of northern steel and the per- 
fumery of northern powder. Did he expect to throw bomb shells 
amono- us and not receive bomb shells in return ? He and his as- 
sociates inaugurated this war, and they must now take the 

"""""'MeixTto all concerned demands its prosecution with energy. 
No means of destruction known to modern warfare must be with- 
held A storm of fire must be poured out on your rebelhous le- 
gions until they have cried enough. Your leaders Persuaded your 
;eople that the North were cowards and powerless. This de- 
ception must be unmasked by the thunder of our artillery, and the 
trLp of our squadrons, as they spread over your southern soil o 
. vindicate themselves from the foul aspersions of the guilty pio- 
jectors of this infamous rebellion. This is no child s play, 

^^"When this has been done, and the South is inclined for a 
settlement, it will be a good time to get at the causes of our 



6 

troubles, and provide, if possible, the true remedy. In the mean- 
time, South, perhaps it would not be amiss to talk over this matter 
in a quiet way, and if the suggestions I have to make are of any 
value, they may hereafter be considered. 

"The truth is, if your people were now inclined to quit their 
warlike attitude, and retire to their homes, I have no doubt but 
the terms I am about to suggest would be accepted. Mr. Clay 
used to say that the North could well afford to be generous. So 
the South would find us, if they would regard the day of their vis- 
itation." 

" But, North, what do you say as to the constant invasion of 
'Southern rights?' " 

" What right of the South has been invaded by the United 
States Government ? Put your finger on one, if you can. Instead 
of that, concession has followed concession. Tariffs have been 
adopted and repealed at your will. Millions of dollars have been 
expended for your convenience and your protection. Laws have 
been enacted to meet your demands. We have chased, seized and 
retui'ned your fugitives, to prevent your comjilaints. We have 
done everything for you which you required, except consent- 
ing to the establishing of slavery in new territories uncursed by 
its presence. So far as the Government is concerned you have 
no right to complain. If individuals have condemned your 
domestic institution, other individuals have as freely defended it. 

" The ' Rights of the South ' has been your watchword in 
taverns and hotels, on rail cars, in assemblies, in halls of legisla- 
tion, to summon your citizens to the work of folly in which they 
are engaged. But has the North no rights ? Let us see how 
they have been regarded. 

"In 1*789 our fathers adopted a Constitution for the Govern- 
ment of the United States. Since that period we have added to 
the domain so that now it embraces an area of 3,260,000 square 
miles. Large sums of money have been expended for our mutual 
safety and accommodation on harbors, forts and fortifications, 
roads, light-houses, etc. 

" That Constitution gives to citizens of each State a title to all 
the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States.' It 
allows no abridgment of the ' freedom of speech or of the press.' 
The right of transit to and fro over the breadth and the length 
of the land was equally intended for every citizen of the Uni- 



ted States. How have these rights been respected? Northern 
men, upon mere suspicion that they would not swear by the law, 
and especially by the Gospel, that the taking, holding, buymg and 
sellino- human beings as property was just and humane, have been 
seized, stripped, scourged, tarred and feathered, and their persons 
decrraded in a most brutal and barbarous manner. If they have 
da?ed, at any time, to express a doubt as to the rightfulness of 
slavery, they have been whipped on the bare back, and then hung 
without jury or judge. These are facts that cannot be denied. 
Union or no Union, such conduct will not hereafter be tolerated. 

" It is true that there are high-minded men at the South who 
would not sanction such proceedings, but they have not, to any 
great extent, been willing to raise their voices agamst such 
barbarism." 

" But, North, you know we have been sleeping over a mine 
ready to be exploded at any time." 

" Then, South, you had better wet your powder. The sooner 
the better. An institution which will not allow the light of dis- 
cussion bears upon its front the evidence that it is essentially 



wrong. 



" Whether slavery be morally right or not ; whether it produces 
a virtuous state of society or otherwise ; whether God ever ap- 
proved of such a thing as human bondage in this or any other age of 
the world, we will not stop further to consider; but whether we 
shall have a Government, holding up its shield for the protection 
of the weak as well as the strong, is a question in which we are 
mutually and deeply interested. 

" In the settlement of this great question we should not only 
enquire how can peace be restored between the North and the 
South, but— how is harmony to be established among the citizens 
of the South themselves ? 

" The great difficulty now is to reach the southern masses. 
Will they allow themselves to be still deceived ? Will they still 
forge their own chains and dig their own graves at the command 
of the men who are playing this game of tyranny? Are your 
people willing, with their own hands, to blot out every vestige of 
freedom for themselves and for their children, and break away 
from the privileges which have been bequeathed to them by 
their fathers at the cost of their blood and treasure ? What does 
Jefferson Davis propose to give, that you do not possess ? What 



xmder the ' heavens ' are you fighting for ? Is it for freedom of 
speech ? a free press ? free schools ? a free gospel ? None of 
these. The only free thing which he seems to intend for you is 
that you may have a free trade with Africa ; free to loiter about 
her shores and kidnap her innocent people ; free to crowd them in 
Confederate ships, and transport them with all the horrors of ' the 
middle passage ' across the ocean, and land them on Confederate 
shores. Free to expose them, without regard to age, sex or de- 
cency, on the block of the auctioneer, for sale to the highest bidder, 
who may then consign them to a life of unrequited toil, and in this 
last act sunder them from friends and every sympathy which may 
have boimd them together on that voyage of woe. And such is the 
freedom which Mr. Alexander Stephens calls the highest state of 
civilization. What a ' chief corner-stone ' for a kingdom ! ! ! 

" But dark as the cloud is that overspreads our country, and 
determined as the men are, who originated our troubles, to keep 
up the strife, we must not cease our efforts to bring it to a close. 
How great are the incentives ! Let us glance at them for a 
moment. 

" Could the plan which I am about to propose, or something 
like it, be adopted, how soon all sectional strife would cease ! 
Mutual interests would then prevail. The North would again re- 
sound with the music of her machinery. The whole population 
would rise as by enchantment from this death-like condition to 
life and vigor. The great West would till her lands and sow her 
seeds in peace. The South, happy in her new condition, would 
plant her broad acres with a serenity and joy heretofore unknown. 
The public lands, thrown open to actual settlers, at a small price, 
would be occupied by hardy men from the old and from the new 
world. ' The earth would bring forth its increase, and God, even 
our God, would bless us.' 

" If this plan, or something like it, were consummated this day by 
the people of the United States, it is believed its real estate would 
increase in value sufficient to pay any reasonable sum Avhich might 
be proposed for purposes of emancipation. 

" What would it do for Virginia with her mines and forests, 
and water-courses and lands ? Their increased value would be 
worth more than those lands and her negroes together, before 
the strife began. What for Tennessee — and more especially, 
Eastern Tennessee, with a climate unsurpassed in the world — 



a laud now, with all the drawbacks of slavery, 'flowing with 
milk and honey ?' I mention these States because the travel 
is so easy between them and the North that multitudes of our 
farmers and others would establish themselves there, if it were 
not for your ' domestic institution.' 

"How delightful then would be the social intercourse between 
the North and the South ! Your vigilance committees would 
have no employment; your schools and seminaries would be 
filled with our educated youth without suspicion or alarm ; our 
business intercourse need never to be disturbed again; the vast 
granaries of the West would pour their abundance at your feet 
for the support of your peoj^le ; the manufactures of the North 
would again be exchanged for the products of your cotton fields, 
and this glorious heritage, left us by our fathers, would be fastened 
together with bands of iron and cords of love. There would be 
nothing to annoy or destroy on the mountains or the plains of our 
noble country. 

" At peace among ourselves and with the rest of the world, the 
sails of our merchant ships would whiten every ocean, carrying 
with them the surplus products of our soil, and returning laden 
with the fruits and fabrics of other climes. Entering into no ' en- 
tangling alliances ' with foreign nations, but cultivating friendship 
with them all, how grand would be our destiny ! With a hundred 
millions of people inhaling the pure air of freedom, covering this 
continent and grouped in States with Constitutions giving equal 
protection to all, and bound together under a General Govern- 
ment founded in truth and righteousness, what could hinder our 
exaltation as a people, or prevent our march in spreading the 
principles of Christianity, civilization, and constitutional liberty 
over the world !" 

" Truly, your trumpet. North, has the right sound, and may the 
good Lord speed you in this work. If the peojDle of the South 
could have believed that such sentiments prevailed to any great 
extent at the North, we should never have been enticed into this 
unnatural contest. But let us have your plan." 

"Take a seat, my friend South, take that new pipe; here is a 
little pure Virginia, try its quality and be patient with me and I 
will endeavor to give you my scheme." 

" North, I rather like you, after all ; at any rate, I think you are 
sincere, whatever may be your mistakes." 



10 

" South, I like you^ and there is no reason why there should be 
any other feeling between us. Your father fought at King's 
Mountain and mine at Bunker Hill for the cause of freedom, and 
now let us maintain those principles in defense of which they so 
nobly died." 

" Let me say here that there is throughout the Northern States 
a determination, that there must be some day settled upon by 
the North and the South when slavery in this country shall 
cease — whether it be a longer or a shorter period before it shall 
take place. The day must be fixed, or we need not expect a per- 
manent peace, however successfully we may patch up our present 
difficulties. 

" Now is the time to begin to dig up this tree by the roots, that 
it may then be sawn up, and then split up, and then burned up, 
and its ashes scattered so Avidely that they can never be found 
again. 

" But I repeat the question. If the North and the South can 
once more be harmonized, how are the people of the South to be 
led to an agreement among themselves ? Let us look at this matter 
for a moment. 

" Suppose the property of the disloyal citizens of the South 
should be confiscated, while the possessions of those who have ad- 
hered to the Government shall be fully secured to them. What 
is to become of the rebellious citizens ? Are they to be driven 
out of the country ? or are they to remain a part of the commun- 
ities where they have resided ? If they remain with little or 
nothing left for their support; their lands sold, their servants 
free, what sort of a time do you suppose the people of such a dis- 
trict would have ? Would it not require a standing army to keep 
the peace? And then, again, whole counties have been plun- 
dered, houses have been destroyed, fields have been trampled, 
crops have been stolen, and outrages committed which may not be 
mentioned. How are these injuries to be repaired and these 
wounds healed 

" I would say to such a deceived and suffering people : You 
have been guilty of great folly as well as great crime. You have 
wickedly endeavored to sap the foundation of the best Gov- 
ernment the world ever witnessed, and whatever may have led 
you to the enterprise, whether ambition or misrepresentation, it 
makes but little difference. Now, then, stop your mad career, lay 
down your rifles and again take the oath of allegiance to a Gov- 



11 



ernment ready to protect and save you. All such as would do 
this I would treat with lenience, and restore them, as far as possi- 
ble, to their former condition. To such, however, as still bid de- 
fiance to the United States Government, I would say: Take 
your choice-transportation or death. You cannot be pei^itted 
to remain on this soil as disturbers of the peace of the Nation. 
"You intend then, to subdue us and afterwards restore us, Mr. 

North '^" 

"We do intend to subdue you. South, or be subdued by you 
The idea of the division of these States, to be under the contro 
of two Governments, must not be entertained for a moment. All 
dissatisfied persons can retire from our country if they please, but 
to remain, and openly plot its ruin, will not be allowed. Less than 
one dozen men, (said Mr. Stephens of Georgia,) are the conspira- 
tors who have been the authors of the great calamity now upon 
us Such men are fit companions for Judas Iscariot, to whose 
' place' they are rapidly hastening. The Hydra, secession, must 
be strangled, and ' now's the time and now's the hour. 

"Restore you? Happy would it be for our country if that 
could be done. If we could open the thousands of fresh graves and 
return to the firesides of once rejoicing families, both north and 
south, in life and strength, the noble youth that have fallen-could 
we empty our hospitals of the languishing and dying, and give 
them health and vigor-could we heal our wounded so diers 
and restore the limbs they have lost-could we brmg back the 
universal prosperity which we enjoyed at the begmnmg of this 
war-then indeed it would be a glorious restoration, but that 
is beyond our power. The momentous question is, how ai;e you to 
be restored, and the Constitution preserved ? By subdunig you 
we do not destroy that. In the settlement of a business afi-air you 
know that we sometimes ' give and take.' I reckon we shall have 
to do so in this matter. , 

" What we want is this. It is that the recognition o_l slavery 
real or implied, shall be swept from the Constitution m a lega 
way,* and then that your slaveholders (exceptmg the mfamou 
leaders) shall be compensated for the emancipation of ^their slaves 
in a manner which shall be both safe and satisfactory. 

" Now, North, you have struck the right vein. Spread these 
views before the people." 

* See 5th Article of the Constitution. 



12 

" If our troubles were tlius settled, friend South, it would be a 
permanent restoration, and prevent that revolution whicb may 
hereafter follow if the ' vexed question ' is left to be again used 
as a ' hobby horse ' for ambitious politicians to ride into poAver. 

"But you can never subjugate us, says Governor Letchei', of 
Virginia. Subjugate ! ! To Avhat ? I answer, simply to consti- 
tutional liberty. It is the subjugation of a recreant, wandering 
child to a cheerful and happy home. Why, the voices of famish- 
ing thousands are heard along your mountains and through your 
valleys. 'There is bread enough and to spare in our father's house, 
and why should we perish on these husks ?' Depend upon it. 
Governor Letcher, neither you nor your ' Golden Circle ' will be 
able to deceive the people much longer. 

" You have told them to 

" ' Strike for their altars and their fires,' 
' Their native land and *noble sires ;'" 

" but if they get two licks for one ' strike ' it wont be very 
desirable. All your hypocritical addresses to your soldiers about 
altars, firesides, homes, &c., are now perfectly understood as 
designed merely for effect. You know, and the leaders of your 
armies know, that wherever the Union troops have gone, they 
have carried with them protection to your people. 

"True, I have taken it for granted that our Northern armies will 
be successful. I do not say this in a boastful manner, knowing very 
well that the ' race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the 
strong ;' but, nevertheless, it looks noAV very much as if the 
heaviest battalions-are to prevail. 

" Let no one hinder us in this work. Hands off, old England ! 
The visit of your youthful Prince had filled our land with pleas- 
ure, removing the last vestige of ill-feeling which may have ex- 
isted from former contests. As he passed from city to city we 
hailed his advent with joy. We had hoped that it would be in- 
strumental of binding the two Nations more closely together, in 
diffusing abroad the princijDles of a true civilization, and the 
blessings of Christianity. We had looked for your sympathy, if 
not your cooperation, in putting down the men who are ready 
with their success to establish more firmly the enormities of the 

* Such as Mason, Slidell, and " Bob Toombs." 



13 

slave trade, and the cruelties and oppressions of slavery in the 
States they represent, and to extend those influences throughout 
the world. Nay, more, they would brush the crown from the 
head of your own Victoria, if it were possible, that they might 
cover the earth with the darkness of their own foul designs. 

" It is a little surprising that Avhile the stoning up of a single 
Southern port should have roused the indignation of your mer- 
chants, that they should have no rebuke for the rebels of the South, 
for their infamous destruction of more than one hundred light- 
houses on the Southern coast, which have been erected by this Gov- 
ernment for the benefit not only of our own commerce, but for the 
marine of the world. Thus they have endangered the lives of 
thousands, and the ships of all nations. 

" You have now with you the noted Mason, from the city of 
Richmond, (the only place in the United States where the Prince 
of Wales received uncourteous treatment,) and the author of the 
' Fugitive Slave Law.' 

" You have Slidell, the patron of the renegade Walker, the 
invader of Central America. Are you ready to join these 
hitherto defamers of England in a crusade against civil liberty? 
We cannot believe it. 

" England and America united, how grand might be their career 
in the amelioration of the world ! 

" Survey our own continent. Look at the vast fields waiting 
for the plowman, and the wide-spread forests ready for the axe of 
the woodman. Let the surplus population of all nations come and 
possess the land, to break up the rich prairies and cut down those 
lofty trees. Let them bring with them the principles of a rational 
liberty, and plant, as they go, the institutions of freedom. 

" ISToAv is the hour for England to aid in the great work of 
the world's emancipation. Or she may, by an ungenerous inter- 
ference in the struggle which our country is making to save itself 
from the hand of despotism, lend her influence in establishing a 
tyranny which, in the end, may ' bind her Kings with chains and 
her nobles with fetters of iron.' 

" Here, then, is the plan I would suggest : 

" Emancipation to the slave and compensation to the master. 

" 1. All persons held as slaves in any portion of the United 
States, and all persons who shall hereafter be born and held as 
slaves in this country, previous to the fourth of July, 1816, (what 
a glorious centennial celebration !) shall, on that day, be free with- 



14 

out compensation to those wlio may legally hold them under the 
laws of the State where they reside, and involuntary servitude (ex- 
cept for crime) shall thereafter cease, whatever may be the laws 
existing in said States to the contrary notwithstanding. 

" 2. All loyal citizens of the United States, and all persons who 
have taken up arms against the United States, who are the owners 
of slaves, or who may become owners of slaves by inheritance, or 
by the increase of slaves owned by said persons under the laws of 
the States wherein they dwell, and who shall take the oath of 
allegiance to the said United States on or before the first day of 
May next, and who may choose to liberate their slaves previous 
to the first day of July, 1876, shall be paid for them at a fair 
valuation, from the treasuiy of the United States, under such 
regulations as shall be agreed ujjon by its Government and the 
several States in which slavery now exists — only excepting the most 
infamous leaders. It being understood that ten per cent, of that 
valuation shall be retained by said Government and paid to the 
said slaves on the day of their emancipation. 

" 3. All persons who may be brought into the United States as 
slaves from any foreign country shall be free, and such persons, at 
their request, shall be returned to the countries whence they came, 
vinder the direction and at the expense of the Government of the 
United States. 

" 4. There shall hereafter be no transfer made of slaves, by sale 
or otherwise, without their consent ; except in cases where it 
may become necessary to make such transfers in consequence of 
the death of owners or their bankruptcy, and under such regula- 
tions that the slave shall be allowed to select his or her own 
master, and the master of his or her children, if they have any. 

" Let us now review the several points Ave have reached : 

" 1. Ultimate Emancipation without compensation. 

" We are met just here with the question, Why do you con- 
tinue the system of slavery a day longer, if it be morally wrong ? 
By this you do great injustice to the slave. We make no plea for 
its continuance. We only fix a day when it shall cease, and open 
a door at once into which the slaveholder may enter and volun- 
tarily arrange with the Government for the immediate release of 
the slave by receiving an equivalent in money. If it be morally 
wrong to hold a human being as a slave, then he that does so 
holds him at his peril, and he will find the period mentioned 
sufficiently long to accumulate his guilt, and eternity wall be of 



15 

suiScient duration to endure the frown of God's displeasure. 
But may it not be true that the slaveholder, in a measure, relieves 
himself of that guilt when he signifies to the Government his 
willingness to jDart with his bondman, and only waits the carrying 
out the details of the proposed plan ? It appears to me he does. 
If it still be said that the Government is bound to emancipate the 
four millions of slaves now in the United States at once, I would 
ask, is it also bound to make immediate provision for them ? Can 
it be done ? It is replied, give them freedom and they will take 
care of themselves. That may be true, to a certain extent, say, if 
you please, one half the ntmiber. Then there are left two millions 
to be cared for. They must be clothed and fed. Suppose it would 
cost twenty cents a day for each, that will amount to $400,000 
per day, and $146,000,000 a year. What is to be done with the 
emancipated ? Are they to remain on the soil, or are they to be 
colonized in some foreign country ? Then that territory must be 
purchased. They must be removed. Implements of husbandry 
must be provided. This arrangment costs money. Where is 
it to come from ? It is doubtful whether it could be raised for 
this purpose, while it is very probable it may be for the plan of 
compensation. But it is said, have faith in God. So we should. 
He can again multiply the ' loaves and fishes to feed so great a 
multitude,' if it be best. But God never performs a miracle 
unless there is a necessity, and the necessity for the performance 
of one in this case is not so obvious. If one is to be performed 
at all in this matter, it would seem to be to change the hearts of 
the masters, so that they would be inclined to emancii^ate their 
slaves. Retain them on the soil, hire them as laborers, and then 
receive from the Government of the United States such a sum of 
money as might be agreed ujDon for the surrender of what they 
regard as property so legalized by the laws of the States where- 
in they dwell. 

" It is such a change of relationship which I am striving to 
accomplish. 

" What say you. South ?" 

" North, you have hit the nail on the head. There are thous- 
ands of Southern men who Avould gladly accept of such an ar- 
rangement. I perceive you have fixed a period when slavery 
shall cease at any rate^ and then, in the meantime, such changes 
can be made as may appear best, without doing violence to any 
living thing." 



16 

"2. We have now reached the second item, and that is, Imme- 
diate Emancipation loith Compensation. 

"'But,' says the objector, 'why compensate at all? If your 
neighbor had taken a vahiable property from another, it would 
hardly be expected he should receive compensation for simply re- 
turning it.' That is true. But the case is hardly parallel. Let 
us examine it. 

"At the adoption of the Constitution slavery existed in 
nearly every State in the Union. The capitalists of the Northern 
States had their money invested in shij^s, whose pathway on the 
ocean between this country and Africa was constant and uninter- 
rupted, and freighted with the bodies of the poor negro. In pro- 
cess of time that nefarious trade was broken up, and slavery abol- 
ished in the Northern States. No doubt there were slaves sold by 
Northern men to Southern planters, but not half the number 
that have been charged upon us. It is probable that in some in- 
stances all one's property consisted in slaves, and it is not im- 
probable tliat such persons made the best bargain they coxild in 
the disposal of their slaves to their Southern neighbors. 

" So, now, there are multitudes at the South whose whole estate 
consist in slaves, which the State legalizes as j^roperty. So they 
deem it. They have been educated to believe that they hold it 
rightfully. They have been instructed from the Old Testament 
and from the New, by Bishops, Priests and Rabbis, that Amer- 
ican slavery is in accordance with the Divine will. 

"These men have spent much time and learning to estab- 
lish so infamous a heresy. When they have been asked on what 
principle they enslave an African, rather than an Englishman, 
they point us to Ham, one of the sons of Noah. If not quite 
satisfied with that authority, and we still enquire why they sanc- 
tion the enslaving of a black man, rather than a white one, they 
point us to Canaan, a grandson of Noah, and while we ponder 
over these reasons, we hear the verdict of the civilized world 
saying that the curse of Ham, and his son Canaan, lias ahoid 
run out. We hear, also, the voices of indignant multitudes de- 
claring that such teachers ought to be slaves themselves. Why 
don't they direct us to Solomon and his concubines to j^i'ove the 
rightfulness of polygamy now ? 

" Miserable men, there is a 'terrible sound in their ears ' doom- 
ing them to an execration more deserving than many slaveholders 
themselves. Many of the persons who hold slaves at the South, 



IT 

under such instruction, are widows and orphans. The moment 
you pass an act of emancipation without financial aid, you make 
them bankrupts and helpless. 

"Now, taking into view the connection we have had with 
the origin of slavery, and the influence we have exerted in its per- 
petuity, and then at the condition which emancipation would 
entail on thousands residing at the South, it would certainly be a 
measure of generosity, to assist them financially in changing this 
relation, although we might not be called upon to do so by a 
strict regard to equity. What could more effectually bind them 
to this Government than such a course as that ? 

" 3. Immediate emancipation without compensation. Such slaves 
as reach our shores through the slave-trade, are free, of course, 
and should be returned to their native land, if they desire it. 

" 4. If the sale and transfer of slaves were prevented, one of 
the crushing evils of slavery would be swept away, whatever be- 
came of the other suggestions we have made. The separation of 
kindred and the sundering of human ties would cease. God 
never created a human soul with sympathies to be trifled with, 
much less to be trampled upon, and those who may have been in 
such a practice may find a severe account to settle at the day of 
judgment." 

" But suppose, North, you had now the consent of the slave 
States to your project, and it Avas fully agreed to by this Govern- 
ment, I should like to propose to you these four questions: 
" 1. How much money do you think it would require ? 
" 2. How do you expect to raise it? 

" 3. How is the money to be appropriated, when obtained? 
" 4. What are you going to do with or for the negroes, after 
they are free ?" 

" I will endeavor. South, to answer your questions in their order. 
But before I proceed, I should like to ask you what sum you think 
would be requisite ?" 

" Yankee fashion— but I will answer. I think before the war 
commenced, the South would have required a thousand miUions 
of dollars, but as the case stands, I think five hundred millions 
would 'pay the bill.'" 

"Precisely the sum I had supposed. So in this we are agreed. 
That sum is a large one, but how much may we expect the cost of 
a five years civil war will be, to say nothing of the distress thus 



18 

brought to every liousehold in the land ? Contrast such a state of 
things with the permanent peace of our country, and five hun- 
dred millions would be as dust in the balance." 

" 2. But how is that sum to be raised?" 

" I answer, by a revenue derived from importations of twenty- 
five millions annually, over and above the Government expenses, for 

e term of twenty years ; and if it were found impossible to raise 
that amount in that form, I would employ a portion of the jjublic 
1 auds, or I would submit to a direct tax, if it could be raised in no 
other way. Or perhaps a better plan would be to issue treasury 
notes as they might be required, payable in tAventy years at 6 per 
cent, interest. We have a population of 30,000,000 people. The 
tax, if it maybe so termed, would be eighty-three cents for each in- 
habitant annually, for the term of twenty years. Set that sum 
against the restoi'ation of quiet and prosperity to this great people, 
and how would the accoi^ut stand ? The conflict now raging finds 
parents and children in opposite ranks, — members of the same 
family in great numbers staining their hands with each others' 
blood. Eighty-three cents from each of the inhabitants of this 
country annually is all I ask to hush up this deadly strife, and 
spread over this land the sunshine of peace." 

" 3. How is the money to be appropriated?" 

"This is the most difticult part of the subject. It relates to 
valuation. This would embrace age, capacity, time of service. 
It would need wisdom, talent, and much labor to arrange the 
matter. Such is the magnitude of the object, it might require a 
permanent commission or separate bureau of the Government 
for the consummation of so great a work. Four hundred thousand 
slaveholders to be met and settled with is no small undertaking. 
The greater the difficulties the greater the triumph in overcoming 
them. Time would be required to adjust this matter. Long estab- 
lished customs and habits cannot be swept away at once. Many 
masters would prefer to dissolve the relation at once and take their 
money. Others would prefer to continue the relation and await 
events to determine their course of action. Multitudes of old peo- 
ple would probably remain on the estates (if not called to a better 
world) till the day of emancipation. So you see. South, there 
would be no necessity for violent changes. ' Where there is a 
will you know, there is a way.' The money thus annually raised, 
if not immediately required, might be loaned to States desiring it 
for internal improvements, or invested in stocks of the United 



19 

States, and thus held for purposes of emancipation. Whether the 
sum mentioned is too much or too little, or the time too long or 
too short, is a matter of no consequence. If this war and its cause 
can be settled with money, let it be done at any cost. Of what 
account is wealth without security ? What value are our marble 
palaces to us, or your beautiful villas to you, if possessed with the 
apprehension of approaching armies to scatter with them desola- 
tion ? I ask, Avith deep solemnity, for what purpose is all this 
waste ?" 

" 4. What shall be done with the African population, after they 
are free ?" 

"You will perceive that sufficient time to adopt some safe 
arrangement has been mentioned. Many of them will find their 
way to the coast of Africa, in connection with the free people of 
color in this country who are going there. As they become en- 
lightened and educated they perceive the inequality to which they 
are doomed while resident here. Such is the prejudice against 
them, it is quite impossible for them to rise to places of influence, 
whatever may be their talents and character. They are shut out 
from the privileges of schools and colleges and trades and merchan- 
dising to such an extent that the time has arrived for them, in 
their opinion, to peaceably leave our shores and find an asylum 
where they can live on terms of equality. Others will go to 
Hayti, and perhaps some to Liberia. In many instances they have 
friends there whom they will follow. There will be some who will 
settle in the free States and become cultivators of the soil, when 
the atrocious laws shall be repealed which prevent a free colored 
man, however virtuous and intelligent, to become resident among 
them. Shame on such ' black laws ' if they still exist." 

" But a large proportion of the emancipated would remain on 
the soil where they are needed. Why should they remove ? You 
might as well part with the steam engines of the North as to send 
these people away. To expend money in the purchase of lands 
out of the United States, for the purpose of colonizing the colored 
people, would seem to be a mistaken policy. If it be true that the 
negro is much better adapted to the climate of the southern States 
than are the whites, why dispense with the labor of the black pop- 
ulation ? Now, North, you have reached the end of your eman- 
cipation journey. The white and black race can never live 
together on southern soil, if the latter are free." 

" Why not, South ? They live together now with all the irri- 



20 

tation of a condition of bondage. Why can they not live together 
with the advantages of freedom?" 

" Ah, Sir, you do not understand their character. They are too 
lazy to work, xuiless they are compelled." 

" Tliat's precisely what I do understand. I have been among 
them ; I have employed them ; and I'll venture to say that I have 
obtained much more labor out of them, by kind treatment, than 
others have obtained out of the same men, in the same time, by 
the lash. If they cannot be reached in that way, and are, as you 
say, too lazy to work, %ohy^ then, let them starve. That is God's 
ordination, and there is no necessity for us to change it. If the 
owner of a jjlantation cannot learn the art of getting more labor 
out of freemen than out of slaves, at the same cost, then he had 
better sell his farm and engage in some other employment. 

" But here is a case in point. The noble La Fayette, when he 
retiirned from France, in 1785, felt strongly urged, by a sense of 
duty, to effect the emancipation of slaves in the colony of Cay- 
enne. He accomplished it. Thirty thoiisand dollars were expend- 
ed in the purchase of plantations and slaves, for the sole purpose 
of proving, by experiment, the safety and good policy of confer- 
ring freedom. He employed a prudent and amiable gentleman at 
Paris to undertake the business. This gentleman, being fully in- 
structed in La Fayette's plans and wishes, sailed for Cayenne. 
The first thing he did, when he arrived, was to collect all the cart- 
whips and other instruments of punishment, and have them burn- 
ed, amid a general assemblage of the slaves ! He made known to 
them the laws and rules by which the estates were to be governed, 
the design of which was to encourage industry by making it the 
means of freedom. This new kind of stimulus had a most favora- 
ble effect on the slaves, and resulted in complete success." 

" But there's the old grudge in their bosoms. North, that would 
break out in revenge, if they were made free." 

" In this I think you are mistaken. Your danger lies more in 
the idea of perpetual bondage than in that of prospective free- 
dom. The recent doctrine of perpetual slavery many of them 
understand as well as you do. It quenches all hope for the future. 
An old but likely negro said to a friend of mine once, ' I have a 
good master and a good home. I have no disposition to leave it ; 
but, massa, my children I see they must be negro slaves forever 
and ever ; that makes me sometimes very mad.' 

" Now let us change the scene. Suppose it were knoAvn through- 



21 

out the South that some plan had been adopted for the future 
emancipation of themselves and children, even if it were remote. 
What a thrill of joy would go from heart to heart ! What a jubi- 
lee in every cabin, from one end of your southern region to the 
other ! What a motive for labor ! The burning revenge, of which 
you speak, would be quenched by gratitude and love. Such has 
been the result in other and similar cases." 

" What about St. Domingo, Mr. North ?" 

" It is not a parallel case. If you wish to examine that ques- 
tion you will find it rather strengthens my position than weakens 
it. We have not time to go into details. Please notice the three 
following things : — 

" 1st. There was a bloody civil war before the act of emancipation 
was passed in St. Domingo. 

" 2d. Emancipation produced the happiest effects. 

" 3d, All was quiet until Bona2)arte made his infamous attempt 
to restore slavery to the island. 

" The massacres of St. Domingo are not chargeable to emanci- 
pation, but to an attempt to re-enslave those whom the Government 
had made free. 

" Col. Malenfant, a slave proprietor and resident of St. Domingo, 
at the time, in his ' Historical and Political Memoirs of the Colo- 
nies,' says : — 

"After the public act of emancipation the negroes remained 
quiet both in the South and in the West, and they continued to 
work upon all the plantations. There were estates which had 
neither owners or managers resident ujDon them. Yet upon these 
estates, though abandoned, the negroes continued their labors 
where there were inferior agents to guide them ; and on these 
estates, where no white men were left to direct them, they 
betook themselves to the planting of provisions ; but upon all 
the plantations where the whites resided the blacks continued to 
labor as quietly as before. 

" With the time allotted for the extinction of slavery there would 
be no difficulty in disposing of your poj^ulation. 

" My object has been to convince you, if possible, of the expe- 
diency, safety, and happy results of emancipation. It may not be 
improper for me to add that I think that it will apj^ear, by inves- 
tigation, that it would ultimately add to the pecuniary advantage 
of your section. ' Cotton,' you say, ' is king.' Yery well. You 
would like to have him continue to reign. Attempts are making. 



22 

you know, in various parts of the world, to take the crown from 
his head ; and no doubt, in part, from the existence of the very 
'Institution' which your peoj)le hug with so much tenacity. 
England is, evidently, to a very great extent, dependent upon the 
South in her manufacture of cotton. She intends to be free, and 
that for various reasons. Let me show you a few figures on that 
head from an English report. In 1850 she imported 669,576,000 
pounds, and in 1857, 069,318,000 pounds — an increase of three 
hundred million pounds in seven years. She did not obtain the 
mcrease from the United States. Where did she get it from ? 
It was obtained from the following countries : 

United States, .... 161,604,906 pounds. 

Egyi^t, 5,910,730 " 

West Indies, .... 1,184,667 " 
East Indies, .... 131,465,402 " 
Africa, and others, . . . 5,895,462 " 

"These figures disclose remarkable results touching the ca- 
pacity of these cotton growers to keep pace with the world's de- 
mand for cotton. Africa and other minor regions increased their 
production within a fraction of three hundred per cent, in seven 
years ; the East Indies, one hundred and eleven per cent. ; the 
West Indies, over six hundred per cent. ; Egypt, nearly thirty-one 
per cent. ; and the United States only thirty-four and one eighth 
per cent. ; — showing, that in ability to increase the cotton pro- 
duct, the free labor countries have far outstripped the slaveholding 
regions. But let us take the full term of fourteen years from 1843 
to 1867. Within that j^eriod the cotton coimtries increased their 
shipments to England, as follows : 

United States, 15 per cent. 

Egypt, 140 " 

Brazil, 54 " 

East Indies, ..... 288 •' 

Africa, and others, . * . . 300 " 

" If, then, one term of fourteen years has given birth to so form- 
idable a competition with American cotton, where will the latter 
be at the end of another like jDcriod ? Taking the import of Eng- 
land in 1857, as the basis, and assuming the increase of the suc- 
ceeding fourteen years to be the same ratio as during the last, the 
production, in 1871, will be as follows : — 



23 

East Indies, .... 720,973,853 pounds. 

West Indies, .... 866,149,800 
Africa, and others, . . . 23,758,480 

United States, . . . 752,971,754 

Brazil, 45,464,464 

Egypt, 31,216,849 " 

" This ratio of increase may be fairly assumed, in those vast re- 
gions where the growth of cotton is now stimulated by British 
capital and enterprise. It is hardly possible that the exhausted 
lands of the south could do this. But granting the same ratio, 
this gives a total of 2,440,535,000 pounds. Take from it the 
654,758,046 pounds, which England took from this country, in 
1857, and the remainder is 1,785,777,154 pounds. Now the whole 
British import in that year, was 969,318,836 pounds, or 299,741,- 
972 more than in 1850, an increase of nearly 45 per cent. Under 
an increase of this magnitude, occuri'ing every fourteen years, 
her consuiiiption, in 1871, would be 1,405,512,312 pounds. Such 
an increase of cotton manufacture is by no means probable. But 
granting it to be so, the free labor countries Avill have all this 
ready for her spindles, and nearly 400,000,000 pounds more. Her 
vast manufacturing machinery can thus be kept running, without 
consuming a single pound of American cotton. 

"It is ajjparent that, in 1871, production will outstrip con- 
sumption. The w^orld will then have too much cotton. England 
will then have from her own possessions in India, more cotton 
than we now produce, even on the most favorable supposition as 
to the increase. 

" Now, then, what has been the leading motive for these extra- 
ordinary eflbrts in the production of cotton ? It is very evident 
it has been a determination on the part of the people of England 
to have no connection, if possible, with cotton raised by slave 
labor. ' For twenty years, her people have been educated, by the 
press and the pulpit, and from the hustings, to regard slavery with 
horror. Her citizens have combined together, with ample capital, 
to find some mode by which the nation might break away from 
this great evil. Cotton countries have been explored, and be- 
ginnings made, which have already realized the most sanguine ex- 
pectations, and assure complete emancipation.' Her late sympa- 
thy with rebeldom has greatly lessened the respect of Chris- 
tendom for her. 



24: 

" To change this current of thought, and lessen the efforts to 
cultivate this material in other countries, nothing could be more 
effectual than for the South, at this auspicious moment, to adopt 
some measure that would convince the world of their intention to 
bring to an end a system so contrary to the sj^irit of the age, and 
so much condemned by the enlightened nations of the earth. 

" We have unoccupied lands enough to cultivate to supply the 
world, and with a system of free labor, we could do it. 

"If the foregoing figures approximate any thing like truth, 
what will your negro population be worth in 1876, leaving out of 
the question, the guilt of the system. 

" Happy would it be for this people if reason should now pre- 
vail, and the projectors of the mad scheme of rebellion could be 
hurled from their places of fjmcied power. 

"But depend upon it, South, that the Goverment of the United 
States will never yield one inch of their domain, nor surrender 
one sentence of the j^rinciples of freedom embodied in their Consti- 
tution, while a drop of blood courses in the veins of their people, or 
a dime remains to be expended in defense of that instrument, or 
a shot is left in the locker. What do you say, friend South ?" 

" I have only to say that it is equally true that the men and 
their associates who originated the conflict, intend to continue it 
till they have attained their object. I am convinced, however, 
that these hostilities ought to cease. Your project I like, and I 
am quite sure that if the sentiments which you have expressed 
could be brought before the southern mind, they would do much 
to produce a conciliatory spirit — at all events, I am willing to join 
you in the following declaration : 

" We, the undersigned, being fully impressed with the impor- 
tance of the preservation of the Union of these United States, and 
believing that every appropriate effort should be made to main- 
tain it, we are of the opinion that some such plan as before ex- 
pressed, would result in restoring tranquillity to the various sec- 
tions of our country, and plant our free institutions on a basis 
never again easily to be moved. We would therefore present the 
foregoing suggestions to the consideration of the people of these 
American States. 

"JOXATUAN JeFFEKSON SoUTH, 

" Jonathan Feajtklin North." 



PATRIOTS, ATTENTION ! TRAITORS, BEWARE ! ! 



A REMARKABLE OLD POEM. 

THE ANARCHIAD: 

A P O E M, 

On the Eestoration of Chaos and Substantial Night. 

IN TWENTY-FOUR BOOKS. 

Written conjointly, by David Humphreys, Joel Barlow, John 
Trumbull, and Dr. Lemuel HorKiNS. 

Now first published in book form. Edited, with Notes and Appen- 
dices, 

BY LUTHER G. RIGGS. 



]sr o T I o E s. 

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Ct.) 



In one volume. Square 16mo. Cloth. Price Fifty Cents. 

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